How Accurate is Location Targeting in Paid Media Marketing?

Question for the Expert:

How accurate is location targeting for geo-fencing marketing?

Answer from the Expert:

Geo-fencing is a modern technology for portable electronic devices that creates and establishes specific boundaries around a real geographical area. The “geo-fence” itself is the specific geographical radius surrounding a certain place. Devices that are enabled with geo-fencing technology become triggered when they are within these boundaries. Upon being triggered, they immediately send out automatically generated alerts such as text messages, emails, or pop-ups within an app.

A great example of geo-fencing is Yext’s beacon technology. Essentially, you can place this beacon within your physical location, such as a storefront. There is a pre-specified radius, and once someone with enters this radius, the business owner can do some interesting things: like send in-store welcome messages, enable mobile payments, and offer additional content or promotions to on-site customers.

Before you get too freaked out, this does not mean you will be tracked as soon as you enter a store or business. In order for the beacon to work, there are two essential preconditions that must exist:

The user must have a relevant app on the phone to interpret the beacon signal (e.g., a retailer app).